Tell the San Diego County
Board of Supervisors:
Vote No on Starlight Solar
Boulevard has already absorbed more than its fair share of the region's industrial energy infrastructure. Now Starlight would add a massive 217 MW / 868 MWh battery storage facility — a fire that water cannot extinguish — in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, near homes and over the groundwater our community depends on.
We support renewable energy. We do not support sacrificing the safety, water and future of one rural community to achieve it.
Take Action — It takes less than 10 minutes to do 1 & 2.
Contact all five County Supervisors. This is a County land-use decision, and every Supervisor will cast a vote.
Put your opposition into the official public record. Ask the Board of Supervisors to VOTE NO.
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We need Boulevard supporters in the room. Let the Board see how many people stand with our community.
Lithium battery fires burn for days, can't be extinguished with water, and vent toxic gas.
Starlight would put a huge industrial battery facility near homes, with limited evacuation routes and limited rural emergency resources.
Boulevard depends on groundwater. We don't have a backup.
Unlike urban San Diego, our community relies on wells and the groundwater beneath us. A serious industrial fire or chemical release could threaten the water we all depend on.
One rural community should not carry a disproportionate share of the region's energy infrastructure.
Boulevard and the Mountain Empire already host numerous industrial-scale renewable energy and transmission projects. Enough is enough.
The County's own Environmental Impact Report identifies “significant and unavoidable” impacts.
The report shows that Starlight would permanently alter Boulevard's rural landscape and visual character.
Video · The Starlight Solar project in Boulevard, California
You cannot put out a battery fire.
You can only wait for it to stop.
Watch: how a BESS fire behaves
Take Action
The most powerful thing you can do right now is contact San Diego County Supervisors directly. Every call and email is logged. Every voice matters — whether you live in Boulevard or anywhere in the county.
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Add one sentence about why Boulevard matters to you.
Press Coverage
Our community's concerns are being heard by regional and national media. This coverage validates what residents have been saying for years — and helps build the broader coalition needed to win.
Press Release
↓Download 8/28/26 Press Release (PDF)KPBS reports on the Planning Commission's approval of the modified Starlight Solar project, detailing the conditions added after months of resident testimony and the project's next step before the Board of Supervisors.
East County Magazine's coverage of the Planning Commission vote, examining lingering fire and safety risks tied to the battery storage facility even after the project's modifications.
NBC 7's Allison Ash reports on the County Planning Commission's July 10 hearing, where residents convinced commissioners to amend the Starlight Solar project — moving dangerous battery components away from homes, requiring dust mitigation, and giving the community more control over the $7 million improvement fund — before unanimously approving it. The project now heads to the Board of Supervisors for a final, binding vote.
The Union-Tribune's coverage of the July 10 Planning Commission hearing, where months of resident testimony over fire risk, water safety, and evacuation routes led commissioners to attach new conditions to the Starlight Solar project before sending it forward.
FOX 5 San Diego and KUSI News video coverage of ongoing resident concerns over the Starlight Solar project's battery storage system, fire safety, and community benefits — as the proposal moves through the county approval process.
Video report on the Planning Commission's approval of Starlight Solar with added safeguards, following sustained pressure from Boulevard residents over fire safety and community benefits.
The San Diego Union-Tribune examines the mounting opposition to the rapid concentration of utility-scale solar and battery storage projects in East County's rural communities. The report highlights how residents — including those organizing against Starlight Solar in Boulevard — argue that regulators are approving projects one-by-one without considering the cumulative impacts on fire safety, dark skies, tribal cultural resources, and the rural character of the backcountry.
East County Magazine reports from the Boulevard Town Hall, where San Diego County planning staff fielded pointed questions from residents over the proposed Starlight Solar project and its large-scale battery energy storage system — covering concerns about fire risk, water, wildlife, and the cumulative toll of industrial-scale energy development on the rural backcountry.
A major investigative report by KPBS covers the wave of renewable energy development in East County — including Starlight Solar in Boulevard, the Jacumba Valley Ranch project, and the pattern scholars are calling "green colonialism." Features voices from our community, the Manzanita Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, and local experts.
FOX 5 San Diego and KUSI News cover the community pushback against the Starlight Solar project, featuring Boulevard resident Thomas Wall calling for a legitimate, enforceable community benefits agreement, and resident Leona Grunow demanding $7 million in community investment. The report also covers a new battery storage proposal — Desert Jewel — adding to concerns about Boulevard becoming an energy sacrifice zone.
East County Magazine covers the growing community opposition to the 588-acre Starlight Solar project, including residents' fire safety concerns, calls for a second evacuation route and dedicated fire truck, and the upcoming April 15 town hall at the Boulevard Resource Center with a representative from Supervisor Joel Anderson's office.
Hundreds of rural residents packed Boulevard's new Backcountry Resource Center on April 15 to voice concerns over the Starlight Solar project — including its massive battery storage system in a high-fire area, the lone evacuation route on Jewel Valley Road, and the proliferation of industrial energy projects turning the backcountry into what residents call a "de facto dumping ground."
Coverage of the real, on-the-ground impacts Jacumba residents have experienced since JVR construction began — a preview of what Boulevard could face. Construction dust, noise disruption, and an unspent community benefit fund.
Earlier KPBS coverage documenting community pushback in Jacumba as the 600-acre JVR Energy Park moved toward approval — the cautionary story Boulevard residents are watching closely.
Our Position
We are not against renewable energy. We are against putting one of the largest battery storage facilities in the state in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, beside homes, a school, and the only water this community has.
Industrial energy infrastructure belongs where it can be built safely — not in a landscape that already burns, with limited evacuation routes and limited rural emergency response.
Boulevard has no municipal water. Every home draws from private wells over a fractured-rock aquifer. Baseline testing, monitoring, and an enforceable remedy must come before any approval.
An independent, scientifically rigorous plume study using proper atmospheric-dispersion modeling — and defensible setbacks between battery arrays and the people who live next to them.
Boulevard and the Mountain Empire already host numerous utility-scale solar, wind, and transmission projects. The region's energy burden should be distributed, not concentrated.
The County is still writing its BESS siting standards. Approving one of the largest battery facilities in the state before those rules exist sets a precedent for the entire rural backcountry.
If impacts start on Day One, so should the mitigation — including full, contractually guaranteed funding of the $7 million Community Impact Fund before Phase 1 begins.
We support the clean energy transition. It cannot be built on the safety, water, and future of one rural community.
Our Home
Boulevard isn't just a zip code. It's the place where your nervous system unclenches. Where the night sky is so dark the stars feel close enough to touch. Where the water from our wells is so clean and delicious it tastes like the land itself. Where neighbors show up for each other — and for the land.
We love this place for what it gives us:
Share your story: text Thomas at 619-708-6029
These are not abstractions. They are the reasons people chose to live here, raise families here, and stay. Industrial development doesn't just alter a landscape — it erases a way of life.
We are the protectors of this land. It is up to us.
Planning Commission Hearing Update: July 10
The Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of a modified version of the Starlight Solar project. This is not the final decision. It now moves to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and months of organizing already forced real changes:
The fight isn't over. A large battery facility in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone remains unresolved — exactly what the Board of Supervisors should weigh now. Let's take this momentum to them.
▶ Watch the Full Hearing →"It's very rare to have a hearing with so much involvement from the community, so much passion."— Planning Commission Chair Bryan Ashman
Watch the Coverage
KPBS
FOX 5 / KUSI
NBC 7 San Diego
CBS 8 San Diego
Read the Coverage
A Major Flaw in the Project
If a fire blocks this route, many are trapped.
This is not a theoretical risk. It is a foreseeable, preventable catastrophe — and the County has the power to stop it.
In 2024, a SDG&E battery fire in Escondido forced mandatory evacuations and closed nearby schools. That was a 30 MW system. Starlight Solar's BESS is 217 MW — more than seven times larger. The County has the authority to require the batteries be relocated within the project site.
Aerial map: BESS location adjacent to Jewel Valley Rd, the sole paved evacuation route, with the border wall blocking all southern exit
Key Issues
Our community relies on local groundwater in an already water-stressed region. Residents are concerned about water use during construction, potential contamination risks, and whether long-term impacts on groundwater availability and quality have been fully evaluated.
Many residents moved to Boulevard for its quiet, open landscape and rural pace of life. Large industrial facilities can introduce long-term operational noise, visual impacts, and increased activity that fundamentally change the character of the community.
The project footprint overlaps with sensitive desert habitat that supports raptors, reptiles, rare plants, and migratory wildlife corridors connecting protected lands across the region. Large-scale fencing, grading, and infrastructure could fragment habitat and disrupt these ecological connections.
Boulevard's extraordinary night skies are one of the defining features of the region. Industrial lighting associated with large energy infrastructure could threaten efforts to pursue International Dark Sky Community designation, like nearby Borrego Springs and Julian.
Critical safety documents for the battery storage system are still preliminary or incomplete, and some rely on assumptions rather than the final technology proposed for the project. Residents are asking that full safety analyses and emergency plans be completed before any permits are issued.
Boulevard sits in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, and the project includes one of the largest battery storage systems proposed in California. Lithium battery fires can release toxic gases and may require firefighters to keep their distance and allow the system to burn out.
Our Partners
We are proud to work alongside tribal partners, local organizations, and community leaders who share a commitment to fair treatment of our land, our water, and our people.